Mayor G.T. Bynum Unveils Tulsa’s First Resilience Strategy

Resilient Tulsa, a Holistic Citywide Strategy Developed in Partnership with 100 Resilient Cities, Presents an Action-Oriented Roadmap for an Inclusive and Equitable Future for All Tulsans

Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Equity Institutionalized, to Accelerate Implementation of 41 Tangible Actions within Strategy

Today, Mayor G.T. Bynum unveiled Resilient Tulsa, a new approach to address the city’s most pressing and interconnected challenges. The result of extensive consultation with stakeholders from across the city, and developed with financial and technical backing from 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC), the Resilience Strategy puts forth a framework for creating an equitable city and center of opportunity for Tulsans new and old.

“Tulsa has made great strides in the last few years in acknowledging the disparities that exist in our community, but acknowledgment is not enough,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “The Resilient Tulsa strategy is a plan of action for building a city where every person has an equal shot at a great life. To follow through on the implementation of this plan, I am also establishing the Mayor’s Office of Resilience & Equity. Now begins the long and difficult work which is necessary to build a better city for future generations of Tulsans.”

With racial equity at its core, Resilient Tulsa addresses critical resilience challenges ranging from economic inequality and disaster preparedness, to localized civic services and improved health outcomes. The Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Equity, led by Chief Resilience Officer DeVon Douglass, will spearhead implementation of Resilient Tulsa. Local partners such as the Tulsa Police Department, Tulsa 1921 Race Riot Commission, Workforce Tulsa, and the Zarrow Family and Tulsa Community Foundations, in addition to 100RC Platform Partners Hustle and SBP, have committed their support in realizing the strategy’s 41 tangible actions.

“This strategy is a direct result of the community feedback we received from Tulsans, City Leadership, the Resilient Tulsa Steering Committee, Racial Equity Advisory Committee and dozens of community partners," DeVon Douglass, Tulsa’s Chief Resilience Officer said. "This roadmap came from the hearts, minds and efforts of Tulsans who sought to make advancements in our community by collaborating together."

The Resilience Strategy includes an actionable set of visions, goals, and actions that addresses the city’s most pressing stresses and seeks to build capacity among residents and city systems alike to better withstand future shocks. Resilient Tulsa is organized into four overarching visions, which taken together strive to produce long-term solutions to challenges ranging from extreme weather events to significant racial, economic, and health inequities. Each action also outlines success metrics that the City will use to track progress. The Strategy’s visions include:

Create an Inclusive Future That Honors All Tulsans: To grow as a unified, strong community, the city will reconcile its past and form a future that celebrates cultural heritage and eliminates systemic discrimination.

Equip All Tulsans To Overcome Barriers and Thrive: By eliminating existing disparities, the City can build a more equitable foundation in which all residents can flourish, regardless of their race, ethnicity, residence, health, income, gender, or criminal history.

Advance Economic Opportunity for All Tulsans: Changes in labor demand, although disruptive to traditional industry, present a new opportunity for Tulsa to equip all residents with the necessary tools to achieve long-term financial stability and prosperity.

Transform City and Regional Systems to Improve Outcomes for All Tulsans: The city will model and advocate for local and regional systems that accurately identify and effectively address community needs on a day-to-day basis.

“We congratulate Mayor Bynum, Chief Resilience Officer Douglass, and the City of Tulsa for taking this historic step toward creating a lasting resilient future,” said Otis Rolley, Managing Director of North America at 100 Resilient Cities. “Resilient Tulsa is a blueprint for overcoming long-standing racial and ethnic disparities, and for ensuring that the city’s prosperity equally benefits all Tulsans. We are excited to continue the next stage of our partnership with the City of Tulsa, and to collaborate around implementation of this aspirational strategy.”

Resilient Tulsa builds off a wealth of existing City plans dedicated to further shaping Tulsa into a world-class city. Recent campaigns include the City’s largest economic development capital improvements program, Vision Tulsa; the first immigrant community inclusion plan, the New Tulsans Initiative; and the Office of Performance Strategy and Innovation, a City Department that aims to deliver better services and drive transparent decision-making. Tulsa’s recently released Equality Indicators framework and report furthermore served as an influential contribution into Resilient Tulsa, evident in the Strategy’s focus on racial equity.

100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) helps cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC provides this assistance through: funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each member city who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a resilience strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges. For more information, visit: www.100ResilientCities.org.